Warring With Magic
by Ghostwriter
Summary: When Emma's poisoned by Hook, she calls the only person who can help her. It's rated "T" for language.
1. Pet Down

WARRING WITH MAGIC

AUTHOR'S NOTE/DISCLAIMER

AU version of the Season 2 "The Queen Is Dead" where Emma's poisoned by Hook instead of Rumplestiltskin and has a different idea of why Emma resisted all things magical for so long instead of just disbelief and is a crossover with the Vampire Diaries Season 4 in between the episodes "Stand By Me" and "Bring It On". For the sake of convenience, the narration will be using their Storybrooke names and there's no Sire-bond. Cora is going to be the main bad in this fic rather than Regina. Vampire Diaries belongs to L.J. Smith and the CW. Once Upon A Time belongs to ABC Studios and whoever else is affiliated with the show.

Emma screamed in pain as David and Mary Margaret hurried her into Mr. Gold's house, the owner of the house-at their heels. They had wanted to take her to their home or her own, but Mr. Gold's was quicker.

"Lay her down on the bed-quickly," Mr. Gold told them and they did so.

"She's burning up. Is this normal?" David asked, smoothing back her hair and making shushing noises as his daughter continued to scream.

"It's a toxin from Neverland and causes excruciating pain. I've never known it to cause a fever before though," Mr. Gold answered as the door opened and the trio turned to see Regina Mills and Henry.

"We came as soon as we heard. I can't believe that my mother was so desperate," Regina told them.

"How's my mom?" Henry asked anxiously.

"I'm not gonna lie. It doesn't look good," David replied.

"Charming, I can't lose her," Mary Margaret stated fearfully.

"I realize that this may not be the best solution, but I **do** know a spell that can make her a tad bit more comfortable…I think," Regina said. Maybe it wasn't the most desirable course of action, but it was something.

"No! No more magic! Magic did this to me!" Emma screamed. _Too much! Too much!_ she thought to herself. She had been infected by too much magic and it was taking its toll on her. She needed help. She knew that. Phone. She needed her phone. She started to reach into her jeans' pocket where she kept her phone and started to pull it out.

"Emma stop. If you need your phone, let us get it," Mary Margaret said.

"I can get it myself," Emma objected.

"I wouldn't, Dearie. The more you move around, the faster the poison spreads," Mr. Gold cautioned.

"Screw that. I just need to get my damn phone," Emma snapped. Really? They were going to try to tell her what to do when magic had done this to her? Seeing that their words were useless, the group fell silent and just let the woman get her phone and then watched as she dialed a number.

"Who's she calling?" David whispered.

"I have no idea," Mary Margaret answered and they refocused their attention on their daughter.

"Pet down. Storybrooke, Maine," she said with difficulty and then hung up.

"Pet? Did you just call yourself a pet?" Regina asked in disbelief. _And how did she get the call to go out? It's not possible_, she thought.

"Why would you do that?" Henry added.

"Is she delirious?" David wondered and Mr. Gold shrugged. He had never heard of the poison making anyone delirious before. In an old boarding house in Mystic Falls, Virginia, a seventeen-year old boy was hurriedly packing. Presently, the other person who lived in the house-a man who appeared to be in his early twenties-walked in.

"Where are **you** off to in such a hurry?" he wondered.

"A place called Storybrooke, Maine," the younger boy responded.

"Sounds boring. Why are you going there?" the older one asked.

"Because a pet of mine is in trouble," he responded.

"A pet? **You**? Saint Stefan claimed a human for a pet?" the older of the two asked in genuine shock. Stefan blew out an unneeded breath.

"It's not what you think, Damon. It was during the early nineties, a girl was being hassled by the vampire community so I marked her to save her life," he answered.

"That includes feeding. How'd you manage to stop?" Damon wondered.

"Lexi helped," Stefan replied. "Look, do you mind handling things by yourself? I know things have been hard with Elena turning her emotions off after Jeremy's death and-" he continued.

"Go. It'll be fine. I know you wouldn't be leaving unless it was critical," Damon interrupted.

"Oh and Bonnie-" Stefan began.

"Has been acting funky since we left the island. I know. I'll keep an eye out on that too. the last thing we need is the little witch going on some suicide mission to bring back her dead lover," Damon interjected.

"Damon," Stefan said reproachfully.

"Oh don't look at me like that. You know you're thinking the same thing," the older vampire retorted. "I get it. She loves him, she can't live without him, and bringing him back may be the one thing that convinces Elena to turn it back on. But there's no way I'm going to let her get into that kind of magic," he continued.

"Careful, Damon. It sounds like you actually care about her."

"Only in a platonic way. Besides, the last thing I need is Sheila Bennett witchy migranining me from the Great Beyond because I let her granddaughter do something incredibly stupid and dangerous." Stefan laughed.

"She probably would too." After he was done, Stefan zipped up the suitcase, went to the garage, got into his car, put the key in the ignition, and then headed out. He had to get to Emma. She wouldn't call him unless something was **very** wrong. And to top it all off, she had used the code words that he had taught her. So that meant it was even **more** critical that he reached her. _Hold on, Emma. I'm coming_, he thought to himself. He wasn't going to let her get hurt. With that, he picked up his phone and dialed a number. Then, "Yes. My name is Stefan Salvatore and I'd like to book the earliest flight to Maine as possible." He became quiet as he listened to the person on the other line. "A few hours. That long?" he asked, his stomach tightening. Emma didn't **have** a few hours. He needed to get to her **now**. Well, there was only one thing to do then: he needed Bonnie's help to get there. With that, he grabbed his things, packed them into his car, put his keys into the ignition, started the car, and then headed for Bonnie's house. When he finally got to the house, he parked the car and then walked up to her front door. He was just about to knock when the door opened to reveal the girl.

"What is it? What's wrong?"

"I have a **really** huge favor to ask you and you have to believe me when I say I wouldn't be making this request if time wasn't of the essence." At these words, the young witch looked at the vampire and her eyes clouded in concern. She didn't need any special abilities to know that he was agitated. And he wasn't one to just turn to her for a spell for a quick fix to his problems.

"What's going on?"

"A woman I know-from a while back-she needs my help. Too much magic-it can be dangerous to her. She called me. She's in pain. Bonnie, I can't let her down."

"What do I need to do?"

"I need you to cast a spell that will transport me to a place called Storybrooke Maine." Bonnie's jaw dropped. Was he serious? That wasn't possible! And even if it was, she didn't know how to do it!

"Stefan, I don't-"

"I know you're not used to that kind of magic, but I wouldn't ask if it wasn't important, I promise." Bonnie nodded. Stefan was right. He wouldn't ask her to do something like this unless he didn't see any other way.

"Okay. I'll help you. Come on in." She opened the door and he stepped inside even as he took his phone out of his pocket and dialed a number.

"Stefan, I thought you had left," his brother stated.

"Had to change travel plans. Bonnie's coming with me," he reported and then hung up without giving the older vampire a chance to reply. Then, he dialed a new number.

"Yeah?" he heard a pained voice ask.

"Pet, I'm going to need you to trust me," he said. _Pet?_ Bonnie wondered. Why would he address someone like that?

"What do I have to do?" she questioned.

"I know you're in pain, but I need you to say a spell with me. We'll do it as quickly as possible," Stefan told her.

"Of course," Emma agreed.

"You mind cluing **me** in?" Bonnie queried.

"Emily's grimoire, halfway through, please make sure the spell covers the suitcase that's in my car trunk," Stefan requested. Bonnie did as Stefan asked and flipped to through the pages until she found something.

"Spatial Travel," she read.

"Yeah, that's it," he confirmed. Then, "Wherever you are Pet, I'm going to need blood." In Mr. Gold's house, having heard the request over the speaker phone, Mr. Gold walked over to a shelf, got a knife, and then brought it to Emma who had carefully sat up.

"Emma, are you sure you want to do this? We don't even know who this boy is," Mary Margaret reminded.

"And how is the phone connecting with the outside world? My magic blocked it out," Regina commented in confusion.

"The bond between Master and Pet supersedes all magic and will override any spell cast to connect them if it's needed," the boy replied.

"How do you know this?" Mary Margaret queried.

"I'm a vampire. Incidentally, I'm going to need an invitation from the owner of the house where Emma is," came the response.

"Whatever," Mr. Gold responded in a dismissive tone. There was no such thing as vampires. Stefan huffed, but decided to press forward. Time was of the essence and he couldn't spend the time arguing.

"Pet, I'm going to need you to pour some of your blood in a cup and then repeat after me." The cup was provided and Emma did as she was told. Then Bonnie started reading the spell quickly as did Stefan and Emma also started speaking, focusing on the words instead of the pain. As this went on, Bonnie went to stand by Stefan who grabbed her hand. As soon as the last words of the spell were spoken, Bonnie, Stefan, and the suitcase in Stefan's car disappeared and they all materialized in the middle of a town square.

"Sorry. I guess I didn't do it right," Bonnie apologized.

"She's close by," Stefan responded as he picked up his suitcase and started walking, Bonnie at his heels. _What is he talking about?_ she wondered. She didn't understand any of this. She hadn't even realized that she could do this type of magic. Almost as if he knew what she was thinking, he glanced at her.

"You okay? I know that was a different type of magic and it may have taken a toll on you and normally I would've given you more information but-"

"No, it's okay. I got the sense that this was important."

"It **is**." As they talked, they continued down the road.

"Hey. Who are you guys? You just appeared out of nowhere," a man said.

"Emma Swann, where is she?" Stefan demanded, grabbing him.

"She's in Mr. Gold's house, down the road," the man answered, pointing. Stefan released him and the vampire and the witch continued on their way. Suddenly, Stefan sped up; making sure that Bonnie could match his stride.

"She's in pain. We gotta hurry," he told her and she followed him. As they got closer to one of the houses, Bonnie became aware of screaming. Stefan sped up even more and Bonnie found herself having to struggle to keep up. However, they were soon at the house and Bonnie walked right in, though Stefan found himself trapped by an invisible barrier. "The owner of the house has to invite me in," he told them. Emma screamed.

"I don't understand. The spell I've been doing should've at least made her more comfortable," Regina said in confusion. Hearing this, Stefan frantically tried to get in, but was stopped. _No! I need to get in there!_ he thought. If Emma had been constantly exposed to magic, she was most likely in the most excruciating amount of pain she had ever felt.

"You need to invite me in-**now**," he growled frantically.

"Why are you dawdling? Get in here," Regina snapped.

"Oh, for the love of-it has to be Rumplestiltskin!" Emma shouted, the sentence ending in a scream.

"Fine, fine, come in," Mr. Gold responded dismissively. Instantly, Stefan stepped through the door and in a flash, he was at her side and positioning her so that they were eye-level.

"What are you doing?" David asked in shock as Stefan bit into his wrist, drawing blood as his flesh tore.

"Saving her life," Stefan snapped. Then he bit into his wrist again tearing the skin even more and to the surprise of almost everyone in the room, Emma took the offered wrist and started drinking from it.

"What the hell is going on?" David demanded after a while.


	2. Magic And Emotions

SHOUT OUTS/ANSWERS

Winxgirl1997: Well, since you asked so nicely, here you go.

Sherry (Guest): Thanks.

MusicalLover17: Thanks. Here ya go.

DISCLAIMER

Once Upon A Time belongs to ABC Studios and whoever else is affiliated with the show. Vampire Diaries belongs to L.J. Smith and the CW.

"What the hell is going on?" David repeated.

"That's **exactly** what **I**'**d** like to know. Someone mind telling me why you've been trying to kill my pet?" Stefan growled, standing up and turning to face the others.

"Easy, Stefan," Bonnie murmured. She didn't need any of her powers to tell that he was upset and the last thing any of them needed was for him to lose control and possibly kill someone.

"'Pet'," Mary Margaret repeated in confusion. "That's what Emma called herself when she called someone which I guess was probably you," she stated.

"And none of us poisoned her. It was a man named Killian Jones, also known as Captain Hook," Regina replied. At this, the vampire tensed.

"Hook? Don't tell me Pan's here too," Stefan said, his eyes flashing with something that Bonnie couldn't really put her finger on. It almost looked like…**fear**. But why? What did a childhood story of a boy who never grew up have to do with anything?

"No, but I wouldn't be surprised if he sent someone here," Mr. Gold replied.

"Great. Just what I needed," Stefan muttered to himself. _I don't want to have to face Peter Pan! I just came here to save Emma_, he thought to himself. He had come here out of necessity and he hadn't really expected to have to face anything. But wasn't that always the way? Well, he supposed that there wasn't anything that he could do now but to help them with whatever they were up against. Then, his attention was diverted back to Emma as she started to rise from the bed. "Whoa. Easy, Pet," he cautioned, materializing at her side in an instant. She had been bombarded with a large amount of magic and only had a little bit of his blood in her system, and the last thing they needed was for her to overdo things.

"I'm fine. In fact-I feel amazing," she told him. "Your blood did the trick, just like always," she stated.

"'Just like always'?" Bonnie repeated. "Something like this has happened before?" she queried. Stefan looked at Emma who nodded her consent.

"Yeah. There's something in her system that's incompatible with magic of any kind and for some reason, my blood balances it out. I have no idea why," the vampire responded with a shrug. And that was the truth. He wasn't sure what had happened to her, but if his blood was the one thing that would keep her from dying from its effects; he'd give it to her. At this, Mr. Gold, Mary Margaret, Henry, Regina, David, and Bonnie looked at him in surprise.

"Magic hurts her?" Mary Margaret asked in surprise. _Well no wonder she was in so much pain_, she thought to herself.

"I had no idea," Regina stated, her face taking on a guilty expression. It hadn't even occurred to her that the spell that she was using in an effort to make the woman more comfortable was actually hurting her.

"Not your fault. You were trying to help," Emma assured, seeing the look. She then grabbed onto Stefan as she once more started to get out of the bed. She smiled at him gratefully and Bonnie watched them with some confusion. What exactly was going on? How did Stefan know this woman? And there were different types of magic? Was that even possible? Well, she supposed it could be. Even though her grandmother and ancestor's grimoires helped, it wasn't like she had an exact training manual for all of this. Stefan looked to Bonnie who seemed to be really confused.

"I'll explain all of this soon, I promise," he told her. If she **was** confused, he couldn't really blame her. After all, it wasn't very often she was asked to sprint herself and somebody else to a town that neither one of them had ever heard of. But it had been necessary. He couldn't just let Emma die.

"Okay," the witch agreed with a nod. Even though they had never been best of friends, she knew that the vampire would keep her safe. She could trust him. She'd have to. He was the only one she knew here. Meanwhile, at the edge of Storybrooke Bay, two people-a man and a woman-were on a ship, talking about what had happened having seen it through a spell.

"I can't believe that boy was able to save her! How'd he even get here?" the woman asked angrily.

"I honestly have no idea. It shouldn't have been possible," the man responded.

"Well, obviously it was!" the woman shouted, using her hand to toss a small mirror across the room of the ship. The man winced as the mirror hit the wall and shattered.

"Now look what you've done, Cora. Seven years of bad luck," he grumbled.

"Oh for Heaven's sake, Hook. Don't tell me you actually believe that," Cora scoffed. It was just an old wives' tale. She had never seen a broken mirror bring about seven years of bad luck for the person who had broken it.

"We come from a fairytale land, Love. I would think that you of all people would know that myths have some basis of truth," Hook responded. Cora had to give Hook that. But she still wasn't convinced that the broken mirror meant anything other than that there was now a mess on the floor. However, to appease the pirate as she still needed him on her side for the moment, she used another wave of her hand to fix the broken mirror.

"This boy-this vampire as he calls himself-would be an interesting asset, don't you think?" Cora queried.

"Given the fact that he was practically murderous over the idea of someone harming Snow White's daughter, I really doubt he'd be interested in helping us," Hook pointed out.

"He will be if we give him the right incentive. We just have to keep his young slave away," she responded. Hook raised an eyebrow at Cora but said nothing. He wasn't sure why Cora thought the young girl with the boy was a slave, but he wasn't going to ask her and risk getting on her bad side. Besides, they would most likely find out the answer to her assumption sooner rather than later. The pirate grinned and the woman returned the gesture. Yes, things were going along just swimmingly. Soon, Regina would be back under her thumb and the power would be theirs. And that's all that she had ever wanted: for her and Regina to have all the power and nobility in the kingdom. It didn't matter that Regina thought she didn't want it anymore. She was going to have it and Cora would make sure that it happened. Because without power, you were nothing. And Regina was much too good to be merely nothing. She had realized it once; she just needed to get her daughter to realize it again. All she had to do was come up with a plan: maybe use her son as an incentive. She only wanted the best for young Henry and for that, she needed power. Yes, the thought of power for Henry would lure Regina back in, she was sure of it. _Yes. This is going to be great_, she thought to herself. She would have everything that she desired. While all of this was going, back in Mystic Falls, Damon had decided to take drastic measures in his attempts to get Elena to turn her emotions back on. This included strapping her to a chair much like Lexi had done to Stefan.

"What are you doing, Damon? We both know you'll never hurt me," Elena smirked. She had seen what Lexi had done to Stefan to get him to turn his humanity back on and there was no way Damon would ever bring himself to do that to her.

"Don't be so sure about that, Elena. We both know this isn't you. You have too much compassion," Damon responded. Her only answer was a humorless laugh. Compassion. That was his big appeal? Her compassion? What had that gotten her? Absolutely nothing. Then, before she knew what was happening, Damon had pulled out a stake and stabbed her in the leg. She screamed.

"You bastard!" she growled. _I can't believe he actually did it!_ she thought to herself.

"Feeling angry yet?" he queried almost hopefully. Anger was an emotion and if she was feeling an emotion, he had something to work with.

"No. just surprised," she answered in a monotone. And it was true. She hadn't expected him to have the guts to hurt her. He always claimed to love her so she had figured that he'd chicken out. "After all, you claimed to love me. Guess you were just lying. Or are you still hurt that I chose Stefan over you even though we met first?" she taunted. For a moment, Damon's eyes darkened with pain but then mentally shrugged it off. She was just trying to hurt him. She didn't actually mean it. He just had to cast aside his feelings and do this. _Wow. I don't believe this. I'm actually using the Lexi method_, he thought to himself. Granted, he hadn't put much stock into it when she had come back when the veil had dropped, but the fun route hadn't panned out and even though he was loath to admit, Elena **was** like Stefan when it came to her emotions so maybe this was the way to go for her. As if she knew what he was thinking, Elena gave Damon a patronizing look. "Come on, Damon. This is really beneath you. I mean, weren't you the one who broke Stefan out for some brotherly bonding?" she pointed out. "And we all know how **that** ended. He told you that he couldn't wait to leave you. And you know why? Because he hates you. He hates that you've done nothing but get in his way. He resents you, you know. You stole Katherine from him. And then you tried to steal me. What is it with you Damon? Do you like his sloppy seconds?" she mocked, still using the same wooden tone that had become her signature since she had turned off her emotions. Damon reared back a hand as if to strike her and Elena flashed him a smile. She had gotten to him. He was going to give in to his emotions. Seeing the look, Damon stopped. Then, gritting his teeth, he just took the stake and plunged it into her shoulder, eliciting a scream from the girl. _Remember; separate yourself from your emotions. She doesn't mean anything she says_, he said to himself. Yes, her comment had hurt, but if he wanted to be successful, he had to ignore it. But it was hard. This was **not** the girl he and his brother had fallen for. This was a cold shell who didn't care about anyone or anything. And this was different than her turning off her humanity. At least when a vampire had no humanity, they felt things: pleasure, lust, whatever. But Elena displayed none of those things and it was like she was truly dead. And that killed him. He didn't like seeing her this way. He just wanted his friend back. Was that really so much to ask for? Hearing the door open, he glanced in the direction of the sound. "Reinforcements, Damon? What'd you do? Get Bonnie and her creepy professor to drop the veil again so that you can drag Lexi down here? You're forgetting that I know all of her tricks now," she smirked. However, it wasn't the blonde she had expected, but rather, Caroline.

"Damon, what are you doing?" she gasped, taking in the scene.

"What's necessary," came the answer. "She didn't want to feel anything after Jeremy's death-not that I don't blame her as she **did** lose her brother-but I'm personally not a big fan of Zombie Elena and the only way to get her back is to make her feel something," he continued. Caroline nodded. She hated to admit it, but what he said made sense.

"I let Tyler know. I mean-I know he can't call back, but…" she bit her lip and fell silent. Damon felt a stab of sympathy for the girl. Damn Klaus for doing this to them all. If it hadn't been for him none of this wouldn't have happened. Okay, enough of that. He had to focus on getting Elena back to normal. Elena let out a scoff.

"Could you please quit whining? We're all sick of it. Why don't you just bang Klaus already? We all know you want to," she said and the other girl's jaw dropped. Had those words actually come out of one of her best friend's mouths?

"You bitch!" she exclaimed and started to fly at her only to have the older vampire stop her.

"Don't. You're just giving her what she wants," he told her.

"I don't care! I can't believe she just said that!" she fumed and Damon did the only thing he could think of to do: he blurred her back upstairs.

"Stay up here and don't come near us until I say you can," he ordered.

"Don't order me around. I'm gonna wring her skinny little neck," she growled.

"Look right now, all you're doing is playing right into her hands, which means you're useless to me," he retorted. Hurt flashed in her eyes as she started to hit him, but he quickly grabbed her arm. "She **wants** you to get angry. She's trying to use your emotions against you," he explained. She blew out a breath and nodded.

"I get what you mean. You need a clear head to deal with her and unfortunately, I'm not going to be capable of that," she realized. Damon hadn't been trying to hurt her. He just meant that she couldn't help in this particular situation, which totally sucked because she **wanted** to help, but she couldn't.

"Exactly," he confirmed. "I'm gonna go make sure Zombie Girl didn't try to escape," he said and started back the way he came. He then turned his head. "And…you're not useless." She gave a curt nod and with that, he blurred back downstairs and the blonde-haired vampire allowed a small smile to grace her lips as she shook her head. That was the closest thing Damon would ever get to an apology. She had long ago learned how to speak "Damon", which had become easier after the older vampire had taken the time to talk to her shortly after her transition, which had led to them hashing out everything he had done to her. And surprisingly-at the time at least-he had been remorseful about his actions towards her. She went to one of the rooms and laid on the bed. Even if she wasn't able to physically help Damon, with Stefan gone, she was going to stay here and be his emotional support when it was needed whether he wanted it or not. Because Elena was her friend and she would be damned if she'd give up on her.


	3. Emotions And Plans

SHOUT OUTS/ANSWERS

Winxgirl1997: Sorry this isn't as soon as you wanted. Hope you enjoy regardless.

DISCLAIMER

Vampire Diaries belongs to L.J. Smith and the CW. Once Upon A Time belongs to ABC Studios and whoever else is affiliated with the show.

Caroline winced as Elena screamed once more. She hated hearing this, but knew it was necessary. Damon was trying to make her feel things again. But she wasn't wanting to, not that the blonde-haired vampire blamed her for not wanting to feel anything. Her brother had been killed. Who would want to feel anything after something like that? But they needed Elena to be back to her old self. She missed her friend and just wanted her back. _Please let this work. Please let Damon get her back_, she thought to herself. Then, she let out a small scoff at the thought. That was certainly a switch. She was usually hoping that Damon's plans **wouldn**'**t** work. Of course, he wasn't usually trying to get a vampire to turn to their emotions back on. But he was this time and that was why she wanted what he was attempting to work. If it worked, she'd have Elena back. And that's all she wanted: one of her best friends back. With an unnecessary sigh, she stood up and headed for another part of the house, hoping that it would be far away enough that she wouldn't hear the screams, curses, and threats. Elena had been pretty stubborn as a human and of course that had been magnified as a vampire. So now it was just a battle of wills. Hopefully, Damon would be able to outlast her. Back downstairs, Damon was still trying to get Elena to feel anything, even rage or fear. So far though, there hadn't been anything, no matter how many times he had hurt her. _Come on, Elena. Come back to us_, he thought to himself. He was really missing his friend. He wanted her back. No, he **needed** her back. He hadn't realized just how strong their friendship had grown until he had lost it. Well, not lost it exactly. When she was herself, they were still friends, but when she was like this, they didn't mean anything to one another and that killed him. Well, he wasn't going to accept it. He was going to make sure he did everything he could think of to get her to feel again. Then, he cocked his head, obviously mulling over everything he had been doing. He had been trying to bring out the pain, anger, and rage in ways Lexi did to Stefan. But maybe that wasn't the answer he thought it was. Maybe with her, he needed to work on annoying her. Yeah, that sounded like a good idea. He just needed to get her involved in their regular banter.

"You know I can do this all day and night. Neither one of us is getting any older," Damon commented.

"Give it up, Damon. You'll never break me," Elena told him.

"Oh I'm sure I will. After all, I **am** irresistible," he smirked. Elena just stared at him stonily. She wasn't sure what he was playing at but she wasn't going to give him the satisfaction of breaking. "Oh come on, give me a little smile. You know you want to," he teased.

"I'll give you a smile as soon as you release me," she responded.

"Oh, I'd love to release you. But first, you gotta turn your emotions back on. I can't let you out while you're playing zombie," he stated. Elena's eyes flickered and Damon felt hope rise up in him. She hadn't moved in an inch since he had started all of this. Was she starting to feel something?

"Is that what you want? For me to feel? What's the point? Everyone I love is dead," Elena answered.

"I think that you're forgetting that Caroline, Bonnie, me, Matt, and my brother are still here. We love you and you love us. We just want you back to normal," Damon corrected. _Please, Elena. Come back to us. I know you're in pain, but please, let us help you cope_, he implored. He couldn't believe that he was actually doing this. He was the king of flipping the switch and yet he was trying to get her to undo what she had done. Then again, she hadn't exactly flipped the switch. More like-blacked it out or something.

"And what's normal? Me whining about how tragic my life is? Admit it, Damon. You like me better like this," Elena stated. _I know I do_, she thought to herself. Everything had been gotten **so** much better since she had abandoned her emotions. She didn't care about anything and more importantly, she didn't **hurt** anymore. Hearing this, Damon let out a small growl of frustration.

"NO! I liked you with your emotions! I liked the way you laughed at Stefan's jokes, the way you put me in my place with just a glare! You're a shell Elena! This isn't you!" he told her. Why couldn't she just see that she had been better with her emotions? "This isn't who we fell in love with! Do you think Jeremy would want you going on this way?" he asked. Okay, that was probably a low blow, but he had a feeling that he was right: Jeremy **wouldn**'**t** like seeing Elena like this. And if that was what it took to get her back to normal, he'd utilize it.

"What do I care about what he thinks? He's dead," she reminded. _I can't believe he's harping on this. I don't want to talk about Jeremy_, she thought to himself. That had been the whole point of her turning off her emotions, so she didn't have to deal with it.

"That's right, your **brother** is dead. How does that make you **feel**?" he pressed.

"I don't feel anything. I've turned everything off, remember?" she reminded.

"And why did you do that? Because the pain was too much? You were feeling pain, and I can **totally** understand that. If this had happened to Stefan-" he said.

"It didn't happen to Stefan! It happened to **Jeremy**!" she interrupted angrily. _I can't believe he's doing this! I don't want to think about it!_ she thought to herself. She had shut off her emotions so she wouldn't have to deal with the image of Jeremy lying motionless on the ground. _Anger! Yes! Okay, we have an emotion!_ the older vampire thought to himself. Granted, he hadn't thought they'd be starting out with this particular emotion, but it was something to work with. Now all he had to do was make sure that she let in her other emotions.

"And you're angry about that, aren't you? You hate the fact that you weren't able to save him. That you let Katherine kill him?" he pressed and her eyes darkened.

"How dare you?" she demanded. _I don't believe him! I'm going to drive a stake through his heart!_ she raged to herself. How could Damon say that? She hadn't let Katherine kill her brother! That bitch had snapped her neck and then had run off and killed him. "You know I didn't let her do anything of the sort! It was all that bitch's fault! If it wasn't for Katherine, Jeremy wouldn't be dead!" she shouted. Then, her eyes widened. Dead. Jeremy was dead. No. No, no, no, no. She couldn't deal with this. It was why she had shut off her emotions! Why had Damon done this? Why had he made her feel again?

"Hey, hey, hey. It's okay. You're going to be okay," he told her, seeing the change. He was going to have to be careful as he didn't want her to turn it off again.

"Okay!? How can it be okay? My brother is dead!" Elena exclaimed tearfully. "I'm alone now. I'm all alone now," she said, tears starting to form.

"But you have **us**. And we'll find a way to get him back. I swear it," he told her, kneeling beside her and placing a hand on her wrist. Not that he had any idea of how to do that without sacrificing someone, but he'd find a way. He then glanced behind him to see Caroline, who had quickly come back to the room once Elena had started yelling at him.

"Damon's right. We'll find a way to bring him back," the blonde-haired vampire agreed, coming up and then kneeling on the other side of her friend, laying her hand on the girl's other wrist. "And we'll make that bitch **pay** for hurting you," she declared, her eyes flashing.

"Why'd you make me feel? I didn't want to feel this! I didn't want to feel anything!" the brunette stated, choking back a sob. Why had he done this? Everything had been so much better. Why had he ruined it all?

"Not even the anger you have?" the male vampire asked. "You've **always** been a fighter, Elena. Don't stop now," he told her as he quickly undid the straps. At his words, the young vampire looked up at him. Fighter. She was a fighter. He was right. She had always fought. And yes, Jeremy's death had devastated her, but this wasn't the time to give up. She had to keep fighting. If she kept fighting, she could get her revenge on Katherine. Yeah, revenge sounded good. She'd make the older vampire **pay** for killing her brother.

"I hate her! I want to make her pay! I want to drive a stake through her heart and watch as she petrifies!" she hissed, her eyes flashing. _Okay, anger is good. But I need to stop her before she does something stupid_, he thought to himself.

"Okay, take it from someone who knows: focusing on revenge won't get you anywhere. If you went after Katherine, she'd most likely kill you. She nearly killed me and Stefan, remember?" he reminded. Elena looked at Damon, letting the words sink in. He was right. Katherine was immensely stronger than she was and could kill her if she wanted to. But could she really let her get away with killing her brother? As if he knew what she was thinking, Damon grabbed her hand. "I'm not saying we let her get away with but don't actively seek her out. It won't end well," he reminded. She nodded and gave him a shaky smile. "Thank you," she said softly. She then glanced at Caroline. "And I'm sorry for what I said. I know you miss Tyler," she apologized.

"I'm not going to deny that you hurt my feelings, but I get that you were just trying to push me away," she responded. Yeah, if it had been anyone else or if the situation had been different, she would've held onto her anger, but Elena was one of her best friends and it looked like she had gotten her back, so she'd push her hurt feelings aside and just be happy that her best friend was back.

"Well, thank you for not letting me," Elena stated. If she had **truly** lost her friend, she wasn't sure **what** she'd do, so yeah, she was grateful that her attitude hadn't chased her away.

"No problem," Caroline replied. She was just glad that Damon's plan had worked and that she had one of her best friend's back. Meanwhile, in Storybrooke, still in Mr. Gold's house, Emma and Stefan had told the others how the two of them had met, explaining that they had met when Emma had been a teen, and that a witch had used a spell to try to kill her, and Stefan had used his blood to heal the damage, which was how they had discovered the effects of magic and his blood on her, though they didn't know the reason for it.

"And the whole "Pet" thing?" David questioned.

"It's a bond created between a vampire and a human. I don't generally follow vampire protocol, but she was being hassled and it was the only way to save her life," Stefan responded a bit uncomfortably. He wasn't sure what to tell him exactly. He hadn't really planned on creating that bond between him and Emma, but it had been the only way to save her life.

"Look, the important thing is that I'm okay now and we can focus on stopping Hook and Cora," Emma stated. _And hoping that we don't have to take on Peter Pan_, Stefan thought to himself. However, he didn't say this out loud. He didn't want anyone knowing about his connection with the imp. He had kept it a secret for over a century, and he was going to keep **that** secret for another century if he had to.

"Agreed," Regina stated. "It won't be easy. My mother is-she's worse than I was," she told them.

"And you were pretty bad," Mary Margaret mused, concern lacing her voice. Regina had been a tough adversary and if **she** was worried about her mother, they'd be wise to listen to her. Hearing this, David pulled Mary Margaret close to him and she let herself revel in his strength. Then, she drew in a breath as she squared her shoulders. "It's obvious that they're desperate to stop us even though Hook obviously meant to infect Rumplestiltskin and not Emma. We need to figure out what our next move is going to be," she declared.

"Well, if it involves magic, I'm out. I don't want to have any more to do with it," Emma replied with a shake of her head. She didn't want what had just happened to her to happen again.

"Don't worry. I won't let anything happen to you," Stefan assured, putting a hand on her shoulder. He didn't blame her for being nervous-he was too-but he would make damn sure that she made it out of everything all right.

"I'm not really using magic anymore, but if I can do anything to help, I'm in," Bonnie stated and everyone looked at her in confusion.

"You've been trying to give it up too?" David questioned.

"Not exactly," Bonnie answered.

"It's a long story that we don't have time for. What do you want to do about this Cora woman and Hook?" Stefan stated and instantly, everyone instantly began talking, coming up with ideas and then discarding them. While this was going on, Regina frowned. Mary Margaret was right to be concerned about facing her mother. She of all people knew just how bad the woman could be. _ I can't let her get away with this. Maybe I can talk to her_, she thought to herself. She didn't **want** to fight her mother and if she could make her see reason, she could put a stop to this. And if she stopped Cora and her plans, she could work on restoring her relationship with Henry. Yeah, that would be good. She knew she had a lot to make up for and Henry was willing to take a chance on her, which had led to the others taking a chance on her, though they were a lot more wary than the boy. And she couldn't really blame them. She had been given so many chances before and then she had blown them. Well, she wasn't going to make that same mistake again. She **needed** to make things right. Unnoticed by the others, she slinked out of the room and then began walking across the street. She needed to figure out where Hook and her mother were. It was the only way to make things right. And she wanted to do that so badly! She was tired of being known as the Evil Queen. That hadn't gotten her anywhere. The vengeance she had thought she wanted didn't mean anything to her now. No, now all she wanted to do was make amends. And hopefully, the others would let her…for Henry's sake if nothing else. These thoughts were interrupted as she noticed a cloud of purple smoke in front of her. Instantly, she tensed, getting into a defensive stance, willing to use magic to defend herself if necessary. Yes, she had promised to quit her magic, but certainly, they'd give her a pass if she was defending herself. To her surprise, a woman with brown hair and a cold, calculating look on her features materialized right in front of her.

"Looking for me?" she asked.

"Mother," the former queen whispered.


End file.
